Comportamento eleitoral no Distrito de Marromeu: um estudo de caso

Abstract

The work shows that the historical dimension was a fundamental element in the formation of voters in Marromeu. In the same way that two types of zones historically demarcated by the line of implementation of the Sena Sugar Estates can be distinguished, zones that during the war period showed a tendency to differentiate themselves in terms of the presence of Renamo and the political alliance of the populations. There is also a marked difference between the electoral behavior in the areas of influence of Sena Sugar Estates and that which is verified in the other areas of the district. The electoral behavior in Marromeu resulted from a series of factors, the following being highlighted: firstly, the importance of the positioning of local chiefs and notables in defining the vote of the respective populations, thanks to the legitimacy and powers that are recognized to them; secondly, the positions taken by the chiefs and the voting instructions given by them were not alien to the situation of control exercised over parts of the territory by each of the former belligerents, that is, their framing - or subordination - in organizational structures of a political-administrative nature set up either by Renamo or Frelimo; thirdly, the greater relative density of votes in favor of Renamo found in regions historically characterized by small peasant production; finally, contrary to what happens with Renamo, Frelimo finds its highest relative density of votes in the “territory” of Sena Sugar Estates and in urban areas, that is, in areas where wage labor predominates. In other words, the closer the population was historically to the State and modern forms of the economy, the greater the vote in favor of Frelimo, and, conversely, the more marginalized in relation to the State and modernity in general was the population. , the greater was the vote in favor of Renamo(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)